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Summary

An oval enclosure lying within Great Stannon Newtake. It is defined by a 4.5 metre wide and 1.2 metre high rubble bank surrounding an internal area measuring 53.5 metres east to west by 39 metres north to south. An 8.3 metre wide entrance gap on the eastern side by a stony mound. The considerable size of the bank combined with its proximity to a number of ritual monuments within Great Stannon Newtake strongly supports that this enclosure is much more likely to have been used for ritual than domestic purposes and it has consequently been identified as a henge, although field survey by the Royal Commission in 1990 disputes this identification.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1018707: Two stone circles known as The Grey Wethers, three round cairns, two ring cairns and an oval enclosure in Great Stannon Newtake

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SW2
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443917
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SW/14
• Old SAM Ref: 28680.4

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Baring Gould, S., 1902, 8th Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 164 (Article in Serial). SDV215645.

About 320m south east of grey wethers is a small circular pound. The bank forming the enclosure is composed of small stones and earth. The entrance is on the west side with one door jamb still standing. Excavated and flat stone found resting on subsoil, 2.7m long, 900mm to 1.2m wide. Trial pits were sunk within the enclosure, but nothing was found.

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1995, 3365-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224714.

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/2149, 4308-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDV282746.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX68SW2 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV243967.

(19/06/1950) remains of a small oval pound consisting of small isolated stones. There is a large gap on its eastern perimeter probably due to mutilation.

Turner, J. R., 1981, Pound/possible henge (Plan - measured). SDV243972.

This feature is tentatively interpreted as a henge. Measured survey drawn.

Turner, J. R., 1984, Unknown title, 103-6 (Article in Serial). SDV243958.

Dimensions 40m by 48m, with bank up to 0.6m high and c 3m wide. Turner (1984) suggests that this represents a class II henge which fell into disuse in Prehistory, possibly due to a rise in the water table, when its ceremonial function passed to the Grey Withers stone circles further up the hill. Further deterioration of the site has been caused by tinning activity and the construction of the White Horse leat, causing further erosion.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Only just visible on 1947 RAF aerial photograph and cut by White Horse Leat.

Clare, T., 1986, Towards a Reappraisal of Henge Monuments, 281-316 (Article in Serial). SDV339180.

Clare includes this site in gazetteer of henge monuments.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, M. J. Fletcher (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(02/07/1990) Centred SX 64008288. This oval pound is situated on a gently sloping S-facing valley side below the crest of a saddle at 466m OD. The area is covered by a deep layer of peat and moorland pasture with scattered surface stone.
It is cut into two by the Whitehorse Leat (SX 68 SW 105) an eroded channel up to 5.3m wide and 1.1m deep. Situated in a marshy area, its interior is heavily silted, the S and W sides are almost completely submerged and there is a pronounced peat build-up against the upper (N) side. It measures 39.0m (N-S) by 53.5m internally with a turf-covered bank at best 3.9m wide and 0.5m high. Where exposed in the leat cutting, however, the bank constructed of roughly piled boulders and stones with some facing boulders is a maximum 4.5m wide and 1.2m high. There is no evidence of an outer ditch. On the E is a gap, c.8.3m wide flanked by a stony mound on each side. It could either be an entrance or the result of mutilation. One of the turf-covered mounds measures 5.0m by 3.8m, and has been dug into and spread.
An elongated mound 18m to the SW measured 7.5m by 4.5m and 0.4m high. Its origin and function are not evident but it is probably part of the enclosure.
This pound is almost certainly of prehistoric origin and it is not a henge monument.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 58, 60 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 144196 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(09/09/1997) An oval enclosure 230m south-south-east of the Grey Wethers stone circles. (09/09/1997) Measures 53.5m by 39m. Oval. Wall 4.5m wide, 1.2m high. May be a henge type monument.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 165-166, Map 35, Site 17 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Oval enclosure of 48 metres by 40 metres surrounded by a stony bank 0.6 metres high and spread to 4.0 metres. A single large slab lies within. The bank was breached in the early 19th century by the Varracombe leat. The bank has also been damaged where stone has been carted away leaving large gaps in the wall. It has been suggested that two of the gaps are original and the structure was a henge, with opposing entrances, though without the inner ditch associated with these monuments.

Ordnance Survey, 2023, Mastermap 2023 (Cartographic). SDV365227.

Oval 'Pound' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2023, National Heritage List for England, 1018707 (National Heritage List for England). SDV365228.

The monument, which falls into six areas, includes two stone circles, three round cairns, two ring cairns and an oval enclosure lying at the head of three separate rivers within Great Stannon Newtake. Lying 230 metres south-south-east of The Grey Wethers is an oval enclosure defined by a 4.5 metres wide and 1.2 metres high rubble bank surrounding an internal area measuring 53.5 metres east to west by 39 metres north to south. An 8.3 metres wide entrance gap on the eastern side is flanked on each side by a stony mound. The considerable size of the bank combined with its proximity to a number of ritual monuments strongly supports the contention that this enclosure is much more likely to have been used for ritual than domestic purposes and it has consequently been identified as a henge.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8650 - Great Stannon Newtake, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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